Hammer for pianofobte actions



(No Model.)

A. W. HALL. HAMMER FORPIANOFORTE ACTIONS.

No. 514,711. Patented Feb. 13, 1894.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER VVILFORD HALL, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

HAMMER FOR PIANOFORTE-ACTIONS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 514,711, dated February13,1894.

Application filed January 28, 1898. Serial No.460,023. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER WILEoRD HALL, of the city and county ofNew York, in the State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Hammers of Pianoforte-Actions, of which the following isa specification.

The object of my invention is to obtain a hammer that will be moreeffective upon the shorter strings of the piano-forte. In order toexplain this object fully I will refer to the hammer as now constructedand to the consequent defect in the higher notes of the instrnmentresulting from such construction.

It is well recognized that the hammers of the higher notes in a sevenand one-third octave or full size piano-forte bring out very littletone. This I have discovered to result from the formation of the tip ofthe hammer where it comes in contact with the string being so blunt thatit becomes impossible on such short strings as are used for those notesto concentrate the force of the blow to the exact nodal point or centerof the ventral sector where alone effective action can be produced. Thelength of the strings of the highest note between the bridge of thesoundboard and the agrafle is but about two inches and the point orcenter where they should be struck is but about an eighth of an inchfrom the agraffe and not more than about one sixty-fourth of an inch inlength, but the narrowest or thinnest of thehammers constructed in thecommon way extends along the wire from an eighth to a quarter of an inchand are so soft that when the blow is struck the strings embedthemselves into the hammers so as to make the length of contact stillgreater and less effective. The string of the length above mentionedvibrates nearly five thousand times in a second so that it is impossiblefor the hammer with its soft yielding face to get out of the Way clearof the string, after striking a blow, quickly enough to avoid itsdamping the vibration.

My invention consists in the construction of the face of the hammer ashereinafter described and claimed whereby it is adapted for edectivelystriking the string at the proper point within an exceedingly shortlimit.

Figure 1 is a side view of a hammer for one of the higher notes of anupright piano-forte illustrating my invention. Fig. 2 represents on anenlarged scale a section of the tip of the hammer shown in Fig. 1.

In carrying out my improvement, the hammer head A is or may beconstructed in the usual way and provided with the usual covering (Z offelt, leather or soft material. To the head thus constructed and faced Iapply as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, across the tip or nose a piece 6 ofthin metal, as wire, and secure the said piece 6 to the coveriugd bymeans of a facing strip f or integument of thin and soft material asleather or skin, which is lapped over the said piece e and secured byglue or other adhesive material to the covering d. The nose or tip ofthe hammer thus constructed may be made to strike the string on theexactventral point of the string best suited to produce the proper tone,the length of the string with which the hammer comes in contact beingthe minimum and the recoil of the hammer from the string will be verysharp and the hammer will have but little tendency to damp the stringand thereby check the vibration.

What I claim as my invention is- I The combination in a piano-fortehammer of a covering of soft material overlapping the tip or nose of thehammer, a piece of metal arranged across the nose or tip outside of saidcovering and an integument covering said piece of metal and constitutingthe striking surface of the hammer, substantially as herein set forth.

ALEXANDER WILFORD HALL.

Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, L. M. EGBERT.

